"There are little things. Technically Roger is strong. It's more about how he moves on the court, how he hits the ball. And I think it would also be good if he would vary his game a bit more than he does at the moment" - Stefan Edberg about what Roger Federer could improve in his game. Read the interview

General news

We suddenly realized that our Facebook page cover image is a bit outdated, but, since we have little time to make a new one and we know that surely there are many creative fans out there, we would like to give you the chance to do it for us.

If you have got some free time for us, if you have got computer graphics skills and, last but not least, if you are a real and motivated Stefan Edberg fan, you can help our page, creating our new Facebook cover image. We will watermark the picture to give you full credit and our 37,000 fans will see your work as our header for the next two months!

If the planets align for Roger Federer at Melbourne Park for a remarkable fifth time in January, the presentation ceremony could prove to be a rather cosy affair. The winner of the men's singles final will receive the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup from Stefan Edberg, Federer's co-coach since the start of last season.

Twenty-nine years after Edberg won the first of his two Australian Opens, the admired Swede will return to share presenting duties with the great Martina Navratilova, who will hand the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup to Li Na's successor as the women's champion the previous night.

The front cover of "När vi var bäst" (When we were the best, p. 276, €26 - US$33, published by Offside)

A very interesting interview book will go out in stores in Sweden in mid October. Written by Mats Holm and Ulf Roosvald, "När vi var bäst" (When we were the best) narrates the Golden Age of Swedish tennis through the eyes of the three major protagonists of that era, Bjorn Borg, Mats Wilander and Stefan Edberg.

According to the back cover of the volume, that is already available online, the book explains how a small country with 8 million inhabitants like Sweden could become the leading nation in tennis and an example to imitate worldwide. "While tennis was still an upper class sport in the world, Sweden became the country with the biggest number of tennis courts per capita".

There are already some anticipations about the book contents, that start from the epic of Bjorn Borg, the taciturn and mysterious Swede who became an icon of the 70's and turned tennis into a global sport, and end with the Kings of Tennis, the nostalgic senior event part of the Champions Tour held each year in Stockholm.

The sportswear company that has been Stefan's sponsor since 1985 made available in stores a new triple version of the sneakers that were connected to the Swede's first personalized outfit, the one he wore during his successful 1987 Australian Open campaign.

Looking forward to this year's US Open, we have collected excerpts from old articles to recall Stefan Edberg's history at Flushing Meadows through some flashes from 8 memorable matches he played there. (m.c)

Aaron Krickstein was supposed to be the next dominant American player, a role that was unclaimed until the emergence of Andre Agassi [...]. He was only 16 years old when he made headlines at the 1983 United States Open, becoming the youngest player ever to reach the round of 16 in the men's draw. Among the players he beat was Stefan Edberg, a promising young Swede, destined to be a Wimbledon champion. [In 1988] Krickstein, playing in front of an enthusiastic crowd of more than 17,000, defeated Edberg, 5-7, 7-6, 7-6, 4-6, 7-5, scoring the biggest upset of the tournament thus far. Edberg does not particularly enjoy playing in the evening, saying it is difficult to see. [...] He was a study in frustration against Krickstein, shaking his head in disgust, slamming the ball in anger. Edberg is a pure serve-and-volleyer, but Krickstein's lobs and crisp forehand passes persuaded Edberg to stay back more than he would like, actually rallying from the baseline on Krickstein's serve. It was [the American's] sixth victory without a loss in five-set matches at the Open.

Italian fan Francesca Sarzetto had the privilege to attend Stefan Edberg's induction into the Rogers Cup Tennis Hall of Fame in Toronto and contributed this fantastic set of close-up pictures that we are happy to share with you.

During a Centre Court ceremony at the Rexall Centre yesterday night, Stefan Edberg was officially elected into the Rogers Cup Hall of Fame.

In his speech he praised the organization of the tournament, explained how important tennis was and still is in his life and thanked the fans for supporting him throughout his career.

Roger Federer also congratulated Stefan with a video message that was broadcasted on the giant screen, regretting he wasn't able to reach his idol's level of serve & volley style.

In other video messages, Thomas Johansson explained what Stefan meant for Swedish tennis, along with Bjorn Borg and Mats Wilander, while Daniel Nestor recalled the legendary Davis Cup tie of 1992, in which he, as an unknown 19 year old guy, managed to defeat Edberg, back then world number one.

Both inductees to be celebrated with Centre Court ceremonies during Rogers Cup presented by National Bank

Stefan Edberg receives a career award at the 1996 US Open

Toronto, July 24, 2014 – Tennis Canada announced Thursday that former world No. 1 Stefan Edberg and former Rogers Cup Master of Ceremonies Don Goodwin will be inducted into the Rogers Cup Hall of Fame during the 2014 Rogers Cup presented by National Bank in Toronto in recognition of their contribution to Canada’s premier tennis tournament.

Edberg will be inducted in a Centre Court ceremony held during the Monday night session on August 4 while Goodwin will be inducted in a similar ceremony on Saturday, August 9 prior to the second singles semifinal.

“I’m honoured to be inducted into the Rogers Cup Hall of Fame,” said Edberg. “Playing the Canadian tournament was always a highlight of my calendar as a player and I look forward to returning to Toronto in my current role to celebrate this accomplishment with my team and the great Canadian tennis fans.”

Last week-end, Stefan Edberg spent a couple of days at Algarve, one of the most touristic regions in Portugal, home of the Cascade Sports Academy where he is still the director of the tennis section.

His son Christopher played in the third edition of the Summer Night Tournament at the Portimão Tennis Club in the Under-18 category.

Christopher won the singles trophy in a three set final against local player Miguel Marreiros 6-3, 2-6, 6-3. The evening before, teaming with Alexandre Chaves, he had lost the doubles final to Ricardo and Miguel Marreiros.

Our website celebrates its 13th anniversary, the first under the Edberg-Federer partnership, after a year of huge growth from all the points of view. I was just having a quick look at last year's post this morning: just after Wimbledon, we were talking of a Facebook page that had gone past 16,000 members, while the Youtube and Twitter accounts had gone past 500 fans. All these numbers have more that doubled in just one year, as our community has enlarged welcoming a slice of Roger Federer fans.

Of course the partnership partly changed the nature of the website and our work behind it. We had always wondered what it would be like to run this project with an active Stefan Edberg. Over the last few months we've had the answer. Before we were used to looking for news, now we are flooded with news, pictures, videos from every part of the world, in every language.

It's very hard to keep up with it, especially when the big tournaments are under way, and this forced us to reduce our work on the vintage part of the website, which I'm sure is something that the old fans have not liked. But, after all, they will understand that this "Federer experience" is something Stefan will always be remembered for and, as long as it lasts, we'd better enjoy it fully.